Interior design of homes is all about the comfort factor. People replace tile floors with carpets, and try to bring a distinctive highlight to their home. One of the premier materials for this is cork flooring, which is a resilient floor cover in warm earth tones and is quite distinctive.

Cork flooring is known for durability, resilience, and for its ease of installation. It's available on rolls or tiles, even as planks. It also feels wonderful under bare feet and is available in a wide array of natural colors and thicknesses. Cork flooring is amazingly durable; some cork floors have been low maintenance floors for more than 100 years now. What makes it last so long is that the fibrous makeup of its natural grain and cellular structure is designed to 'bounce' back. It doesn't scuff as easily and it doesn't wear out as quickly as tile or wood. Cork is also self sealing, producing a substance called 'suberin' that resists mold, mites, rot and termites.

Where cork has a drawback is that it's porous. You'll want to blot up water stains off the floor as quickly as possible before it removes its coating and get absorbed. That said, it's very easy to clean, because it repels dust. Cork flooring can be swept up easily and is easy to clean with just a broom and dustpan or a vacuum cleaner.

Cork flooring as a décor statement has some advantages. It's amazingly comfortable to walk on in stocking feet, or barefoot, because it has a little bit of 'spring' in rebound, cushioning your feet as you walk. It's also a natural sound-dampening material. These properties make cork a natural underlay for other types of floor materials, like linoleum or tile. It also compares favorably in price to other natural materials. Cork is a naturally regenerating and renewable resource when harvested properly. It can be half as expensive as stone or hardwood flooring, though it's more expensive than mass produced tile. Cork is harvested in the cork oak forests around the Mediterranean, and cork (the spongy layer underneath the bark) grows quickly.

If you're installing cork on a new project, keep the following tips in mind:

Cork isn't good for areas with water around - the kitchen and bathroom are the big culprits here. Get cork with a good polyurethane sealant on it for use in these areas; these come pre-manufactured in a lot of areas. You can get cork in much the same way you get tiles - tongue and groove, glued, or on rolls to lay down. It's about the same amount of work as laying down vinyl floor covering, all told.

Once your cork floor is installed, you'll want to sweep your floors with the softest brush you can find, and you'll want to do it often - cork is soft, and dirt will abrade it rapidly. Remember to wipe spills up fast; it's going to swell up like a sponge if you don't. When you wash cork flooring, use a mixture of mild soap and water and a very damp sponge mop. For higher end treatment, you can buy specialty products specifically for cleaning cork floors.

If your cork floor ever looks dull, it's time to reseal them with an acrylic varnish. Sand the surface lightly with very fine grit sandpaper before varnishing, and you can get recommendations for what type of varnish to use from your cork sales rep.